THE HERALD OF THE COMING KING (Mark 1:1-8)
INTRODUCTION:
We finished Esther last week, for those who were trying to watch online, I apologize we were having technical difficulties which are hopefully solved this week. We do not have a recording of that final message, but it is in written form on the church’s website if you would like to read it. All that to say we are starting a new book and a new series this morning. We are going to fast-forward about 500 years from the time of Esther and there we find ourselves in the pages of the New Testament. The New Testament begins with what are called the four Gospels. Gospel is a word that means good news. We are going to begin a journey through the book of Mark, the second gospel of the four.
Church history is unanimous that the author of the second gospel is a man by the name of John Mark, or as it is sometimes says in Scripture, “John, who was also called Mark.” (Acts 12:12b, NASB95)[1] He was a cousin to Barnabas and his mother’s name was Mary, and her home in Jerusalem served as a gathering place for the early church. When Mark was still a young man, he accompanied Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, but in Perga he deserted them and returned home. Because of this Paul did not want to take him on the second missionary journey which caused a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, which caused them to part ways and Barnabas took John Mark with him to Cyprus and Paul took Silas into Asia. Mark later was reconciled with Paul and became a valued member in Paul’s ministry team. We also know that Mark became a disciple and companion of Peter. Peter became a spiritual father to Mark and referred to him as “my son” in 1st Peter 5:13. It is believed that Mark wrote his Gospel from the preaching of Peter on the events in Christ’s life. It is not known whether he wrote the Gospel before or after Peter’s martyrdom. It was written in Rome where he was with Peter until his death and it was written for the believers in Rome, especially the Gentile believers. We know this because he translates Aramaic terms, he provides explanations for Jewish customs and at times uses Latin phrases instead of Greek. Mark’s theme is given to us in the first sentence of his book. Let’s pray and get into our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Mark 1:1-8 and buckle your seat belts because Mark moves quickly. Mark uses a word in his book that is translated “immediately,” and he uses it 42 times, it is only used 12 other times in the rest of the New Testament. It is certainly a good word to describe Mark’s gospel, because he dives right into his account and moves along swiftly. Mark’s gospel is full of facts that demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Messiah and that He is the Son of God. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Mark 1:1-8,
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.” ’ John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey. And he was preaching, and saying, ‘After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ ” (Mark 1:1–8, NASB95)[2]
THE GOOD NEWS (Mark 1:1)
Mark’s opening verse is his theme for the entire gospel. Mark is the only one of the four gospel writers that calls his work the gospel, the good news. Mark states that this the beginning of the gospel, and no statement could be truer. The gospel message does not end with the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the message of the gospel continues and will culminate in the return of Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of all God’s promises to the nation of Israel and then finally in the creation of the new heavens and the new earth and the rest of eternity in the presence of our God.
Mark is relating to us the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Notice that Mark does not simply say that he is presenting us with the gospel of Jesus. From this point on we are driven until we reach chapter 8 where in the center of the book, Peter makes the great confession, “You are the Christ.” Mark foreshadows this great confession when he affirms that this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means the good news of Jesus, the Messiah.
Mark does not stop there but goes on to tell us that Jesus, the Messiah is the Son of God. This phrase speaks of Jesus lineage and right to rule. He is one in nature with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit—coeternal and coequal. For the Roman pagans who wrongly regarded Caesar as a god, Mark introduces them to the true divine King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry He repeatedly demonstrated Himself to be the divine King and Mark is careful to present the overwhelming truth of this to his readers. In the first half of the book, chapters 1-8, Mark highlights the works and words of the Lord Jesus that prove He is the Messiah, the Son of God. In the second half of the book, chapters 9-16, Mark brings our focus onto Jesus’ death and resurrection. Both halves of the book bring us to the same conclusion, Jesus Christ’s words, works, death, and resurrection prove that He is the promised Messianic King, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world. The fact that Peter’s great confession stands in the middle of the book is no accident. It shows us the very heart of Mark’s message, the Lord Jesus Christ is exactly who He claimed to be.
THE GOOD NEWS PROPHESIED (Mark 1:2-3)
Mark begins his good news by taking us to Old Testament, to the prophecies made concerning the coming Messiah, the promised King. Mark puts two prophecies together, the first from Malachi 3:1 and the second from Isaiah 40:3 and equates them both to Isaiah. It was not uncommon at the time when citing several Old Testament prophets, to refer only to the more prominent one. Because these two prophecies fit together so perfectly and both refer to the same persons, they may have been frequently used together by early Christians.
Both these prophecies foretold that before the Messiah would come, God would send a herald or a forerunner. The herald’s responsibility would be to announce the coming King and prepare the way for Him. The fact that Mark makes this herald the most prominent figure in the opening verses would not have been odd to his audience, in fact it might have been expected because earthly monarchs in those days sent official messengers before them to prepare the way, to announce their coming, and to make the people ready to receive them. So, the prophets announced the coming of a royal herald to do this for the coming divine King, the Messiah, the Son of God.
Mark quotes the words of the prophets, “Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way; The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight.’ ” (Mark 1:2–3, NASB95)[3] This herald was to prepare the way for the coming King by proclamation, this herald would be a preacher who would make a strong call for the people to ready themselves for the coming Messiah. The prophecy from Isaiah forty expands on the duties of the herald. The herald would also make the road ready for the coming King. The herald or forerunner would not be clearing debris from literal roads that might block the coming king, rather he would be removing obstacles of unbelief from the hearts and minds of sinners. The way of the Lord is the way of repentance, of turning from sin to righteousness, and of turning spiritual paths that are crooked into ones that are straight and holy.
THE GOOD NEWS OF THE HERALD (Mark 1:4-6)
After giving us the prophecies of the herald coming to announce the coming King, Mark introduces us to the herald. He writes that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness. This John is identified as the Baptist to distinguish him from other Johns in the New Testament. John the Baptist is not John the apostle who wrote the Gospel of John, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, and Revelation. These are two different people, John the Baptist was the herald of the coming King, John the apostle was a disciple of the King when He arrived. I know some people mix these up, but they are two different people.
When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness and began to preach breaking the 400 years of silence since the last Old Testament prophet. This caused the people to see him as a prophet. John spent the duration of his ministry in the wilderness along the banks of the Jordan river. For the Jews the wilderness signified judgment, they had been judged 40 years wandering in the wilderness when they disobeyed God after He delivered them from Egypt. To be summoned by this prophet to be baptized in the Jordan river meant that Israel had to go into the wilderness again. Israel had been separated from Egypt by a journey through the waters of the Red Sea, John is calling the nation again to experience separation, the people are being called to a second exodus in preparation for a new covenant with God. As people go out to hear John and be baptized there is far more involved then repentance and confession. They are returning to a place of judgment, the wilderness, where the status of Israel as God’s beloved son must be re-established in the exchange of pride for humility. The willingness to return to the wilderness signifies the acknowledgement of Israel’s history as one of rebellion and disobedience, and the desire to begin anew once more.
John the Baptist’s ministry focus was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. This is what he preached to help the people prepare for the arrival of the messianic King. John called on them to forsake their sin and receive God forgiveness and the way they demonstrated this repentance was to be baptized. John calling on Israelites to be baptized was totally radical. This was something new, no one else had ever done this. The only thing that even came close to this was the requirement that Gentile converts to Judaism had to be baptized, a ritual washing that symbolized their rejection of paganism and their new belief in Judaism. John is asking the Jews to do something they have never done before in their history. It was unheard of, and this is why John was called the Baptist or the Baptizer. There had never been anyone like him. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, it required the Jews to come out into the wilderness which symbolized for them judgment and then listen to John preach about sin, warning them of coming judgment, speaking about individual sins, naming names, calling for justice and repentance. Finally, when the crowd was completely convicted, they would form endless lines to be baptized as a sign that they were repenting of their sin. John understood that they had to hear the bad news about sin and judgment before they could hear the good news of a coming King who would be the Savior of the world, who could forgive the sins of repentant sinners. When we share the gospel, it must contain the bad news first or there is no need for the good news.
John’s baptism marked the outward profession of inward repentance; it did not generate repentance but was the result of repentance. Also, it must be understood that the act of baptism did not produce the forgiveness of sin but served as an external symbol of the fact that, through faith and repentance, God graciously forgives sinners. Even though John’s baptism came before Christian baptism, it served a vital role of preparing the people for the arrival of the Messiah. Years later Paul would say in Acts 19:4, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” (Acts 19:4, NASB95)[4]
The people of all Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to the wilderness to see this prophet that had appeared and was announcing the coming Messiah. No Jew wanted to be left out of the promised messianic kingdom. News of this rugged, counter-culture prophet spread throughout the southern part of Israel, and they came to see him and hear him, and they confessed their sins, agreeing with God that they had broken His law and needed to be forgiven. But in the end, as we will see, this revival proved to be largely superficial. The thousands that flocked to see and hear John at the peak of his popularity would later reject the Messiah that he came to proclaim, the coming King to whom his whole ministry pointed.
Having described John’s ministry, Mark goes on and describes John for us. Mark leaves out the details of John’s supernatural conception to aged parents, that fact that he was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb and jumps immediately to a description of this one who appeared in the wilderness, this description is short and to the point. “John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.” (Mark 1:6, NASB95)[5] This simple physical description of John fits a man who lived in the wilderness, where he was more concerned about the durability of his clothes than the clothing fashions of the day and where locusts and wild honey were easily found and provided him with the sustenance he needed. John’s attire and eating habits designated him as a prophet. The prophet Elijah wore similar attire. The angel Gabriel who had announced the birth of John the Baptist to his aged father Zacharias had said that he would be the forerunner of the Messiah in the spirit and power of Elijah. Mark’s brief description of John is enough to indicate that he must have been a shocking figure to those who saw him. He claimed to be a messenger from God, but his lifestyle was radically different than the other religious leaders of the first century. John was not asking people to give up their nice clothes and positions and become like him. Even though he was not doing this, his physical appearance served as a dramatic reminder that the pleasures and pursuits of this world can be stumbling blocks that keep people from rejecting their sin and turning to God.
THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KING (Mark 1:7-8)
The last two verses of our passage this morning is the sum of John’s ministry. The entire reason behind his preaching was to point his listeners to the One who was coming after him. That is what it meant to be a herald or a forerunner, you directed everyone’s attention away from yourself and towards the coming King. In John 3:30, John the Baptist explained to his disciples, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30, NASB95)[6] John the Baptist rightly understood and embraces his role as the Messiah’s herald.
Because he understood and embraced his role, he told the crowd, “After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals.” (Mark 1:7, NASB95)[7] John’s ministry did not precede a mere human king or monarch, John was pointing to the divine King who was foretold by the Old Testament prophets. John had no problem acknowledging that this coming King was mightier than he. The Messiah would be greater in every respect, so much so that John did not regard himself even worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. Untying the master’s sandals and tending to his dusty feat was a task reserved for the lowest of slaves. John’s point was that he did not even consider himself worthy to be the lowest slave of such an infinitely exalted King. It is like John is saying, “Don’t get excited about me. Get excited about the One I am pointing you to, the One who is the Messiah, the One who is the Son of God.
John continues to show how much mightier the coming King is than him by stating, “I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:8, NASB95)[8] It is as if John is saying, “All I can do is wash you on the outside with water. But the coming King can transform and cleanse you on the inside.” To be baptized with the Holy Spirit refers to the cleansing work, the transforming work of salvation. John is telling us that this coming King is a Savior and a Redeemer, and He will provide purification by means of a new covenant and the transformation by means of the new birth.
CONCLUSION:
Jesus promised the disciples in the upper room on their last night together that He would send the Holy Spirit to His disciples and that He would be their Helper, that He may be with them forever, the Spirit of truth. He would abide with them and be in them. That promise was first fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Since that time, every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation and indwelt by the Holy Spirit for the rest of our lives and forever. Paul describes that baptizing of the Holy Spirit in Titus 3:4-7 when he writes, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4–7, NASB95)[9] Maybe you are here this morning and you have never had this washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit. This can only come through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. This supernatural power to baptize us with the Holy Spirit distinguishes the ministry of the new King from any other. John the Baptist was not able to give the Holy Spirit. Only God can do that, and the coming King announced by John is God in human flesh, and He will baptize repentant sinners with the saving power of the Spirit’s regenerative and renewing work.
John’s message summarizes the heart of the gospel, bringing us back to Mark’s use of the term in verse 1. The gospel is the good news—the glad tidings of a coming new King who is bringing in a new kingdom. This King is the long-awaited Messiah foretold by the Old Testament prophets; He is God Himself. His kingdom is a kingdom of forgiveness, blessing, and salvation. It comes to those who repent. And those who do will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. This gospel is the culmination of all past redemptive history and the beginning to all future glory. Are you a part of this kingdom? John the Baptist, the faithful forerunner and herald, had come to announce the arrival of this long-awaited King.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.